Royal Trux-- Accelerator (Drag City 145)

These are the sounds of the dirty side of summer.

Royal Trux have outdone themselves a thousand times over with the new Accelerator. They've always had soul, always had cool, and always managed to get two or three great songs on each of their previous albums, but this one has more soul, more cool and all nine tracks (with one exception) are incredible.

They took the trouble this time to fool around with some studio gadgetry, getting a warped feel on their voices, an effect which works particularly well when offset by thunderous drumming and guitar-playing-- it sounds about the way it feels to stand on a rough corner in the bad section of town, in August, with sun-blinded eyes that can't make out all the people and cars creating the dizzingly loud noises you're surrounded by.

-- Brian Greene